After leaving everyone a little confused with the Seinfeld portion of their Crispin Porter + Bogusky helmed ad campaign, Microsoft aired the second installment last night. The new commercial, titled “I’m a PC,” goes straight at Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” ads with a bunch of people (including Pharrell) claiming that they’re PCs, implying that they’re not actually lames like Apple says they are. While these new ads are better than the first bunch, we’re still kinda confused.

We thought these ads were supposed to tell people why Window’s isn’t wack, but they don’t even mention Microsoft or Windows, let alone any of its features. WTF? Who cares if astronauts and animal trainers use it? You’re supposed to be telling the people who want to look cool with a Macbook why they should stick with Microsoft. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, Microsoft still has the computer game on lock with a damn near 90% market share, but they got problems. Maybe they should focus on them instead of making commercials. We got some suggestions on how they can step up…

1. MERGE THE XBOX AND WINDOWS TEAMSAsk anyone under the age of 40 what the best Microsoft product is, and they’ll probably tell you Xbox 360. Besides the dreaded Red Ring of Death, everything about the 360 is dope. It has the best game selection, powerful hardware and, most importantly, the best software available on any console. Playing online with friends on PS3 is straight up painful, while Xbox Live makes it effortless and it looks great. Two things that are seldom said about Windows.

2. BE MORE PROACTIVEFor a company as large and rich as Microsoft, you would think they’d be a beacon of innovation. But most of their consumer products seem to be answers to products that are already successful, like the Zune and Windows Live. Now the Zune and Windows Live aren’t bad products, they’re actually pretty damn good. But it’s hard to stand out when you’re #2. They need to take more risks with their products, bring in some innovators and stop trying to create things to destroy popular products.

3. FIRE STEVE BALLMERBesides their slick, attractive, innovative products, there’s one reason Apple is able to stay on top and his name is Steve Jobs. People only hear or see Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer when he’s pissed off and ranting about one of their competitors. No one wants to buy products from him. Microsoft needs a charismatic figurehead that people actually like to peddle their products to the masses. A good salesman can sell anything, no matter how wack. Just ask Diddy.

4. FOCUS AND SIMPLIFYWhen they launched Windows Vista, they launched FOUR different versions! When your average user walks into the computer store, they just want to pick up Windows and keep it moving. If they get confused at all, that’s a problem. And when it comes to Windows, people have been very confused. They need to trim the fat and focus on doing a couple things really well.

5. OPEN MICROSOFT RETAIL STORESMicrosoft seems to think that their main problem is one of perception. That people only think Windows sucks because Apple and a lot of the media has said it sucks. And they’re kinda right. If they want to really change people’s perception of Windows and all things Microsoft, they need to let people experience it first hand, on their terms. They need a Microsoft retail store. The only time people experience their products is when they go to Best Buy or some other store where they speak to poorly-trained sales people. If Microsoft had their own store, they’d be able to give people the entire Microsoft experience. Whatever that may be.

Like nature, the Apple rumor mill abhors a vacuum, and for much of this month it has been filled with talk of “the Brick.”

What is the Brick? The question was first posed the day after Steve Jobs’ “Let’s Rock” keynote address by Cleve Nettles on the Apple blog 9 to 5 Mac. He wrote that a tipster with “a solid track record” told him that the mid-October introduction of a new line of MacBooks (see here) is “all about the Brick.”

“What does ‘The Brick’ mean?” Nettles asked his readers. “Can anyone out there help us out?” (link)

Readers were happy to oblige. Hundreds of messages, dozens of blog postings, and at least two reader polls later, no definitive answers have emerged. Speculation reached a fever pitch this weekend after The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) reported that Apple had e-mailed resellers with instructions to remove and destroy all Apple TV displays and literature by 5 p.m. Sept. 30, when a webcast “kick off” was supposedly scheduled. Could the Brick be the long-awaited arrival of Apple TV, Take 3?

The Sept. 30 deadline, it turns out, is the anniversary of the debut of those Apple TV store displays, which suggests that the company may simply be destroying some outdated print material containing screen shots whose permissions have run out. (link)

But that hasn’t slowed the flood of ideas about what Steve Jobs might have up his sleeve next. As is often the case with Apple watchers, the speculation says more about their needs and fantasies than Apple’s (AAPL) product plans.

So what’s on their wish list? A sampling of what some have suggested the Brick might be:

An Apple TV with a built-in Blu-Ray disk, TV receiver, digital TV recorder and its own App store (link)A new Apple-branded gaming system (link)A Time Capsule with “smarts” that functions as an iTunes server (link)A redesigned and much more powerful Mac Mini (link)The announcement that Apple has aquired TiVo (TIVO) and is discontinuing the Apple TV (link)A tablet-sized Mac with a touch-screen keyboard (link)A low-cost MacBook to compete in the sub-notebook market (link)A wireless USB hub that that links keyboards, mice, DVD drives, networking, hard drives, new displays (link)Nothing brick-shaped, but rather a product or group of products sexy enough to “smash” Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows once and for all (link)My favorite reader comment, posted by “cardiomac” on TUAW in response to a suggestion that the Apple TV was “not meant to be a computer,” borrows from the “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock“:

No! I am not a computer, nor was meant to be;Am an attendant lord, one that will doTo swell a progress, start a scene or two,Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,Deferential, glad to be of use,Politic, cautious, and meticulous;Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—Almost, at times, the Fool. (link)

What is going on with Microsoft, first they cancelled the Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld Ads, now there are reports that the Ads are not axed. Microsoft should do itself and everyone a favor, and don't do anymore of those boring Ads.

Here is an article I found of gizmodo.com

Microsoft Ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld Not Cancelled.

From a trusted Crispin Porter + Bogusky source, we've learned that some sites have jumped the gun and that the Microsoft Gates/Seinfeld ads have not been axed. It's true, Microsoft apparently asked the agency to focus on the new "I'm a PC" spots. And it's true, the agency has gotten plenty of "I don't know what this means" response in their measured statistics of the Gates/Seinfeld ads. But no one has pulled the plug on the dynamic duo just yet.

In fact, CPB has another completed spot featuring the lovable, affluent couple in the can, ready to air (even though it won't quite yet). And while the agency has prioritized development to the anti-Mac ads, there are still full plans to go ahead and produce more Seinfeld/Gates spots unless Microsoft were to pull the plug first (which, once again, they have not at this time).

It's good to know that in a time of economic uncertainty, Gates and Seinfeld haven't been laid off just yet.

UPDATE: We talked to our source again after speaking to Rob Reilly from CPB. While Rob Reily has denied that another Gates/Seinfeld ad is sitting in the ready, our source confirms, once again, that it is. Our source explains that if the Mac/PC ads running now prove to be successful, there's a good chance that last Gates/Seinfeld spot will air.

However, there's even more of an indication now that Microsoft aggressively cut the Gates/Seinfeld spot production short, canceling the shoot for a fourth spot just three days into production. The spots were intended to be part of a running series with up to 12 planned spots conceptualized. Now it's unclear whether or not we'll even see the last spot air, let alone Seinfeld come back for reprisal.

Who isn't ready for Windows 7? That wiser, stabler, more streamlined OS with Vista's good looks but an even prettier Start button and an alleged 15-second boot time? Heck, even Bill Gates is excited to get on to the next version. You can get your hands on a "pre-beta" version of Windows 7 by attending the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in LA October 27 to 30, or the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), also in LA shortly after, from November 5 to 7. Go get them, and then report back to us with some new info.

It wasn't hard to see this coming, Microsoft's ads have been very mediocre and boring. Below is an article from AppleInsider.com.

Microsoft's bizarre campaign to turn $300,000,000 into a marketing message took an even stranger turn Thursday with the airing of the company's latest television commercial: "I'm a PC."

What began as an attempt to associate Microsoft with a smart and comic social relevance turned mean and condescending before being placed on hold indefinitely and replaced by a more defensive series of ads (below) that actually draw attention to Apple by referencing its Get a Mac campaign.

The Mojave Experiment

The first element of Microsoft's effort was the Mojave Experiment, which portrayed the problems of Windows Vista as being a big misunderstanding.

Critics presented that the Mojave ads seemed to portray customers as stupid while delivering a controlled demonstration that tried to deny Vista's widely reported issues rather than answer them with an straightforwardly apologetic solution.

The ads about nothing

Just as Mojave began running into widespread criticism, Microsoft turned attention to a series of ads with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfield, which promised to "tell the story of Windows."

Rather than making Gates appear more human, the ads departed from the track and went tumbling off toward the random and often non-sensical comedy style of Seinfeld. The problem of course, is that Seinfeld was an entertainment show 'about nothing' that people watched for passive entertainment; this was an expensively produced advertising message that failed to say anything.

Microsoft promised that the first ads were just a teaser leading up to an expanded series that would get to the point. Yet after seeing the public reaction to the ads, Microsoft's PR group, Waggener Edstrom, put the series on hold, trying to spin the apparent cancelation as a planned progression to phase two, suggesting that the plan all along was to pay Seinfeld $10 million for two surreal teasers.

That story was outed as false when it was revealed that a third ad with Gates and Seinfeld had already been produced, but hasn't yet been aired, and that there is no current plan to publish it.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky

The Seinfeld ads were the work of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, a group with a reputation for doing more daring and original marketing campaigns to get people talking about a product. Interestingly, the group is profiled on Apple Canada's Pro website, related to a project that put four Mac minis hooked up to capture video from mini cameras installed in a Volkswagon Rabbit painted to look like a cab.

For two weeks, the campaign drove the car around New York City "offering perfect strangers free taxi rides in an effort to demonstrate the Rabbit’s ability to negotiate extreme city traffic."

In addition to the Mac minis installed in the car, which the producers described in the article by saying, "we could count on them being dependable and reliable throughout the process," the campaign also set up a series of seven Mac workstations in a hotel room so they could edit and compress the footage and get it up on a website within 24 hours.

It's somewhat ironic that Microsoft's upper management, after hiring Crispin Porter + Bogusky to inject some new life in the the company's brand, hastily decided to yank the ads before they had a chance to go anywhere. Of course, it's also ironic that they chose Seinfeld, who was not only featured in a Think Different ad by Apple back at the height of his popularity (below), but that Seinfeld also prominently displayed Macs in his fictitious apartment throughout the entire run of his TV show.

The circumstances of the Seinfeld ads left the appearance that Gates was trying to buy cool by running along after Apple looking for things to copy, the very thing Microsoft was trying to convey that it wasn't doing.

Your creative is too creative

Additionally, the Seinfeld skits seemed to be doing the opposite of what they intended to do; they actually ending up making Gates look more disconnected, arrogantly infatuated with his own sense of genius, and dismissive of the "regular people" who pay to use his company's products. In dumping them, Microsoft has revealed plans to more directly to take issue with Apple's Get a Mac TV spots.

Gates has bristled at the Get a Mac ads on several occasions before, which comically present John Hodgman as a PC character befuddled by problems, often with Vista. When asked in an interview if he identified himself with the PC character in Apple's ads, Gates stormed out of the studio.

The entire campaign seems to be more focused on Gates' intent to erase his perceived slight in being portrayed as a befuddled nerd rather than in presenting Microsoft as a strong and attractive brand. Microsoft already avoids using its company name on products it wants to market as cool, including the Xbox and Zune.

Those products are nearly irrelevant in comparison to the desktop Windows, Office, and server products that make up the vast majority of the company's revenues and all of its profits. Windows and Office are very high margin products that have enjoyed limited competition.

Get a PC?

Apple's Get a Mac ads are taking a bite into Windows Vista premium sales and more importantly creating a more positive impression of Macs at a time when even the Windows-oriented tech media is complaining about Vista. Allowed to continue, Apple might pull the cornerstone from Microsoft's monopoly machine that sells Windows licenses automatically with every new PC sale.

Microsoft hopes to reverse things by defending the image of the PC character, in part by presenting a generic Hodgman clone complaining about being "stereotyped," and by presenting a series of celebrities and other "everyday PC users" identifying themselves as a PC.

The problem of course is that Apple presents the Mac in contrast to PC because it wants to avoid any unnecessary mention of Windows. By copying Apple's line, Microsoft will be spending millions to advertise the PC rather than the Windows brand.

Further, as PC companies such as Dell and Acer continue to seek new ways to use Linux in place of Windows, and as the top PC vendor HP begins its own efforts to create a Windows alternative as reported by BusinessWeek, the idea of advertising "the PC" would do even less for Microsoft.

Well what do ya know, good old Microsoft has been busted using Macs to make their ads, what more can I say but, "Priceless".

Here is an article I found on AppleInsider.com

Metadata found on Microsoft's creative copy used in its 'I'm a PC' ad reveals that the graphics were actually produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. After the details were published on the Flickr photo sharing site, Microsoft scrambled to polish off the embarrassing details last night

Microsoft's new ad features contrasts a "stereotyped PC user" dressed up like John Hodgman in Apple's Get a Mac ads with a number of people who say, "I'm a PC" apparently to affirm that they run Windows.

However, not even Microsoft itself can wean itself off the Mac, as the metadata discovered by Flickr user LuisDS points out. Microsoft was not only using Macs but also Adobe's software in place of its own Expressions Studio, which the company bills as software that "takes your creative possibilities to a new level."

After seeing Microsoft's new ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates , the first thing that came to my mind was, Boring!!. They did a horrible job at these ads, they don't make any sense, and I don't know what they are selling, software? , computers?.

They took a good actor and a good CEO and put them together in lifeless and boring scenarios. Microsoft did a good job with the "I'm A PC" ads, they should have stuck with that.

Here is a video of the first Seinfeld Gates ads launched earlier in September, it seems they are selling shoes.

I recently got a new laptop from my church, for church purposes only, but it gave me a chance to fully work and examine Windows Vista. I currently own an iMac running Mac OSX Tiger and and IBM laptop running Windows XP. I did use Vista before, but not to a full extent. But after 3 weeks of working on it, I have to say, I kinda like it, the interface is nice and clean and windows on the hold seems more organized and functional. I did have any serious problems with it. The UI is attractive, its not as pretty Mac OSX, but it is unique in its own way.

Of course there are some flaws, every OS has them, but one thing that really ruins Vista is all the security alerts. It is extremely annoying, everything must be authorized, every time you try to do something a security prompt pops up. I also had some minor application compatibility issues, which will eventually be resolved with updates by Microsoft, so not worth detailing.

I'm thinking about installing Vista on my iMac(intel) via Vmware or Bootcamp. I'm curious to see how Vista will run an Mac hardware.

Apple is notifying some of its customers this week that it will be unable to meet quoted delivery times for its new 16GB iPod nanos, fueling rumors that the company was forced to make a last minute change to the product line, possibly at the hands of rival Microsoft.

In an email to customers Thursday, the Cupertino-based company informed online shoppers in the UK that delivery of 16GB iPod nanos originally slated to arrive between September 17th and 22nd won't ship until the 25th. They're now scheduled to land on customers' doorsteps "on or before" September 29th.

"Please note that these dates are estimated lead-times only. Once your order has dispatched, you will receive a Dispatch Notification email, which will provide you with detailed delivery information," Apple wrote. "Your business is very important to us, and we apologise for any inconvenience that this change may cause."

In the same email, Apple contends that demand for the new iPod nano "has been higher than anticipated" and that it's shipping units "as quickly as possible, but cannot meet the dispatch" dates originally quoted.

That said, there's been an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that 16GB models remain unavailable simply because Apple's original plans for the fourth-generation iPod nano leading up to last Tuesday's event called for only 4GB and 8GB configurations.

As such, it's likely manufacturing ramp of the 16GB models didn't begin until just recently because Foxconn, Apple's iPod manufacturing partner in the East, was busy pumping out 4GB and 8GB models instead. Though unannounced last Tuesday, those 4GB models mysteriously began cropping up at European retailers earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the German blog Cyberbloc quite confidently claimed that that it was told the 4GB models were the result of a production fault that stemmed from Apple's initial intention of marketing only 4GB and 8GB models.

The official response from Apple was on the matter was that it decided to produce a "limited number of 4GB iPod nanos for some international markets." The statement suggests the 4GB models were the afterthought as opposed to the 16GB model, but doesn't explain a motive, why availability of the 4GB models will soon cease, or why they're priced relatively close to the 8GB model.

Separately, AppleInsider has learned that some Apple retail stores actually received marketing material last week for the fourth-generation nanos listing only 4GB and 8GB models, which they were then asked to return. Those materials were said to have priced the players in line with the third-generation nanos -- $149 for a 4GB model and $199 for the 8GB.

This has led some industry watchers to question whether it was Microsoft, for once, who caught its longtime rival to south off-guard and possibly pressed its margins in the process. On Monday September 8th, just one day before Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the fourth-generation iPod nano, reports surfaced on Microsoft's plans to introduce an 8GB Zune at $149 and a 16GB Zune at $200 around the same time.

Jobs isn't one to let himself be shown up on capacity claims.

"Both of these are shipping out of our factories. The 8-gig should be in stock the next few days," he said while announcing the new nanos last Tuesday. "The 16-gigs, uhh, hopefully this weekend. Early next week at the latest."

Both of Microsoft's new Zunes contain Wi-Fi functionality and other features absent from the new nanos. Meanwhile, Apple's online store in the US currently lists immediate availability of the 8GB nanos, but a 2 to 4 day wait for the 16GB models. Apple retail stores contacted by AppleInsider said they just began receiving 16GB nanos today, but only in a few colors.

If industry speculation is accurate, and AppleInsider believes the evidence supports the case, then Apple's rumored last-minute switch-up may have saved the company same face.

Even given the higher capacity nanos, the Associated Press on Thursday ran a joint review of the new Microsoft and Apple players, noting that updates to both lines have made the buying decision a difficult one.

"The Zune has a long way to go to become a threat to the iPod," wrote the news agency's Rachel Metz. "But it is getting closer."

Apple has been raking in major profits, with iPhones, iPods, new computers, operating system, and software, making me want kick myself for not buy stocks from them in the 90's when Steve Jobs took over. The company seems to be getting better and better at what they do. I'm always under expectation for what new delicious products they will introduce.

Riding the wave of good news about Apple's explosive growth over the past years, market research firm Gartner now says that Apple is the sixth largest PC manufacturer in the world.

Apple has been making significant inroads in the US with both the Mac and Safari browser, enjoying 50 to 60 percent year-over-year growth in Q3 and Q1 2008, respectively. While Apple became the fourth largest PC vendor in the US in Q1 2008, it still doesn't have much of a worldwide market share to speak of when compared to the big hitters like HP, Dell, and Acer who are increasingly competing in low-cost and budget-friendly desktops and notebooks. Nevertheless, after tallying the numbers from PC manufacturers' 2007 sales, Apple is now in 6th place worldwide according to Gartner's numbers, right behind Toshiba who is hovering just under 20 percent.

While this is good news for Apple and its shareholders, Gartner echoes other assessments that Apple may have a tough road ahead considering that PC manufacturers have brought the budget battle to ultra-portable, ultra-cheap notebooks. Asus' Eee PC and its many competitors are ushering in a new era of $400 notebooks and cheap desktops which, as we noted back April, are very appealing to areas like Asia and South America where markets aren't as saturated.

Ok, I about busted a gut when a co-worker of mine brought this can of interesting food in for me from Akihabara. The can of food is called Oden （おでん）. As you can see from the following picture, there is an interesting little guy on the front whose name is Gates-chan. Yes, that is supposed to be good old Bill Gates!

Not to be confused with a traditional Japanese food, these Oden food cans are apparently very popular within the Japanese Otaku culture. In fact, there is one vending machine in Akihabara that is very famous for dispensing Oden food cans, from which this can most likely came from. :>) On my next trip, I will try to take a picture. Also, on an interesting side note… there are many different foods that you can get in an Oden can. These foods range from Oden-currey, Oden-bread, Oden-ramen, etc…

Well it's about time Microsoft rolled up their sleeves and started to fight back. They have released an Ad to combat Apple's brutal "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" Ads. I think they did a good job, offering a broad perspective of PC users, common, interesting, unusual, famous and important people.

The first time I saw Steve Ballmer(Microsoft's CEO) in action was at a Microsoft Keynote Conference, and I was left in utter shock. He came out shouting, running, screaming, jumping, possibly spitting and scratching. It was horrific, some in the crowd seemed to enjoy it, while others where probably thinking what I was thinking, "This guy has lost his marbles".

I'm not sure what he's trying to do, you can tell its a major act, maybe he's trying to motivate or convince others that Microsoft isn't the boring, uninventive, and non cultured company that is seems to be. I prefer Bill Gates than Ballmer, I'm not a big fan of Gates, but he is more humble and doesn't try to perform, he's just himself.

I found a post on gizmodo.com, showing Ballmer acting crazy again. here is the link:

Steve jobs was listed as number 82 on Time's "The 2008 Time 100". He is was listed under category of "Builders & Titans". Steve Jobs has done an exceptional job increasing Apple's marketability, Apple has seen major growth and successes since Jobs took over as CEO.

Here is the article:

Steve Jobs (Builders & Titans)By Barbara Kiviat

Steve Jobs is great at playing the countercultural icon. He's a college dropout who once backpacked around India looking for spiritual enlightenment, and he takes only $1 a year in salary. There are righteous battles to fight, and with Macs and iTunes and iPhones, Jobs fights them, taking on the entrenched megaliths that try to dictate our tastes in computers and music and mobile phones.

But don't let the black mock turtleneck and denim trousers fool you. More than anything else, Jobs is a canny CEO who knows how to sell product. Steve Wozniak was the technical genius behind the first Apple computer; Jobs saw the marketability. He now presides over a company with $24 billion in annual sales and 22,000 employees. Jobs, 53, is revered by tech and design geeks, but the world's business-school students may have the most to learn from him. Apple's stock has shot up more than 70% over the past year, thanks to Jobs' strategy of focusing on his most profitable customers and coming up with new things to sell them—the ultra-thin MacBook Air most recently—rather than just chasing more market share.

Jobs may be a celebrity CEO, but he doesn't jump out of airplanes or traipse around Africa with bundles of cash. He is always in character and always on message, so much so that when late-night TV parodies him, he's invariably rolling out some new iProduct . Jobs gets called mercurial, egomaniacal, a micromanager. If that sounds a little like a CEO doing his job, maybe that's because he is—and a mighty fine one.

The age old battle between Mac and PC, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and OS X and Vista still continues. For the past couple of years however, it seemed like there was a truce between the two companies, as apple moved to intel chips, allowing windows to be installed on macs, microsoft releasing mac friendly applications, Microsoft designing Vista with Mac OSX type features, also releasing their own portable mp3 player to compete with the iPod. There is a level of competition still there, but one could see these two companies getting closer, as their platforms have already made the step closer.

Could a merger or buyout be possible, if the economy continues in the path its on, it could happen.